This article presents an efficient quasi-optimal sum rate (SR) maximization technique based on zero-forcing water-filling (ZFWF) algorithm directly applied to cognitive radio networks (CRNs). We have defined the non-convexity nature of the optimization problem in the context of CRNs while we have offered all necessary conditions to solve the related SR maximization problem, which considers power limit at cognitive transmitter and interference levels at primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs). A general expression capable to determine the optimal number of users as a function of the main system parameters, namely the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and the number of BS antennas is proposed. Our numerical results for the CRN performance are analyzed in terms of both BER and sum-capacity for the proposed ZF-WF precoding technique, and compared to the classical minimum mean square error (MMSE), corroborating the effectiveness of the proposed technique operating in multi user multiple input single output (MU-MISO) CRNs